A prime location in historic downtown Erie that for months has been eyed for a brewery will now be occupied -- by a brewery.

Echo Brewing Co., of Frederick, signed a letter of intent with the town of Erie earlier this week to enter into a lease/purchase agreement of 600 and 620 Briggs St. -- the old fire station and a house next to it -- and turn the property into a cask and barrel aging facility.

Another beer maker, Atom Brewing Co., had laid out plans to locate in the town-owned property last year but eventually decided to forgo a brewery launch in order to team up with Echo. Echo hopes to open in late summer or early autumn.

Echo co-owner Daniel Richards, along with his brother Dennis, intends to make the new brewery a "community-oriented tap room" that will put Erie on the craft beer map. In addition to Echo, Industrial Revolution Brewing Co. will have a tap room up and running just a block or so away. It is looking at an opening date in mid-July.

"We know those guys," Richards said. "Erie is going to be a good place for having a couple of breweries and making downtown a destination."

The Richards brothers plan to retrofit the 2,500-square-foot firehouse and tear down the house next door, opening up the adjoining lot for a possible outdoor beer garden or additional storage space for barrels.

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Paula Mehle, Erie's economic development coordinator, said a brewery could bring the kind of energy downtown Erie has been looking for.

"We were looking for a vibrant business that would attract people to the downtown area," she said. "We determined that Echo was the top proposal, and we made an offer to them."

Mehle said she is not worried about oversaturation in the local craft brew market, despite a number of breweries planning summer openings in and around Erie. Three breweries have announced plans to start serving suds in Lafayette, while a second brewhouse -- Twelve Degree Brewing -- is close to opening its doors in downtown Louisville.

The craft brewing industry has been booming, especially in Colorado. The Brewers Association estimates that the industry grew in volume last year by 15 percent over the year before. And the association reported that craft brewers sold $10.2 billion of beer in 2012, up from $8.7 billion in 2011.

According to the website fermentedlychallenged.com, there are more than 160 breweries in operation in Colorado and dozens more in the pipeline.

Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com. Follow him on Twitter @abuvthefold.

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